METALS-London copper edges lower ahead of China data

Reuters Staff

3 Min Read

MELBOURNE, March 14 (Reuters) - London copper edged lower on Tuesday, as traders locked in profits ahead of China industrial data that should shine a light on the strength of demand in the world’s top user of metals.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.2 percent to $5,800 a tonne by 0103 GMT, paring 1.1 percent gains from the previous session. Copper last week fell to 2-month lows at $5,652 a tonne on signs that mine disruptions may be abating.

* A flurry of data in coming weeks is expected to show China posted solid economic growth in February, even as the government trimmed its growth target for the year to focus on containing the risks from a rapid build-up in debt. China industrial output and retail sales are due later in the session.

* A strike at Peru’s biggest copper mine, Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s Cerro Verde, stretched into its fourth day after a meeting between the union and management failed to resolve a dispute over labor demands, a union official said on Monday.

* BHP Billiton on Monday invited striking workers at its Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world’s largest, to return to the negotiating table, after they rejected a similar approach on Saturday. Escondida’s 2,500-member union has been on strike since Feb. 9 after new contract talks fell apart, and the mine has produced no copper since then.

* Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday accused some miners of funding efforts to destabilise his government as he talked about a possible plan to impose a ban on mining given the environmental damage producers have caused.

* China’s central bank does not have a “bottom line” for either the yuan exchange rate against the dollar or foreign exchange reserves, a senior official told Reuters in an interview.

* Japan’s core machinery orders unexpectedly fell in January from the previous month and dipped the most in five months, adding to worries about whether recent signs of economic recovery will be sustainable.

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MARKETS NEWS

* Major U.S. stock indexes paused on Monday as investors braced for a potential U.S. interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve later in the week, while oil prices hovered near three-month lows.